When it comes to the whereabouts of Edward Snowden, there has been far more conjecture than concrete fact. While Washington would do anything to get its hands on the whistleblower, tracking down Snowden has turned into a full-on cloak and dagger affair.

On Sunday Edward Snowden left Chinese territory two days after
espionage charges were leveled against him, setting off an
international game of cat and mouse which has the United States’
massive global intelligence apparatus trying to cut the former
National Security Agency (NSA) contractor off at the pass.

The White House for its part seemed to be certain that Snowden
did in fact reach Moscow after taking off from Hong Kong on
Sunday.

“We have known where he is and believe we know where he is
now,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said during a Monday
afternoon briefing. “It is our assumption that he is in
Russia.”

“I’m not going to get into specifics, but it is our
understanding that he is still in Russia,” Carney continued.
"We have asked the Russians to look at all the options and
expel Snowden to the US,” he said.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said on Monday that Snowden
was in a “safe place.” Assange, who was unable to give further
information as to Snowden’s whereabouts, claimed that Snowden had
left Hong Kong on June 23 “bound for Ecuador via a safe pass
through Russia and other states."

Shortly after Snowden allegedly arrived in Moscow, the government
of Ecuador announced it had received an asylum request from the
fugitive whistleblower. Assange claimed Snowden, whose passport
was reportedly revoked one day prior to his departure from Hong
Kong, was further granted a refugee document of passage.

It has been reported that Snowden was snaking his way around the
globe to avoid capture, with a complicated route which would have
seen him fly from Moscow to Caracas via Havana, with the
expectation that he would later travel on to the Ecuadorian
capital, Quito.

While the state-controlled Russian airline Aeroflot said that he
had checked in for flight SU150 to Havana with two seats (17A and
17C) in his name on Monday, seemingly half the world’s press
corps was on board, but Snowden was conspicuously absent.

The fact that he failed to board a Moscow-to-Havana flight on
Monday following his hasty escape from Hong Kong one day prior
begs the question: did the world’s most infamous whistleblower
step foot on Russian soil at all?

WikiLeaks and unnamed sources

The government of Hong Kong never specified Snowden’s
destination, only stating that he had in fact left Chinese
territory for “a third country” on Sunday. The Russian
government has made no official comment regarding his alleged
arrival either.

“I don’t [know if he's planning to stay in Moscow]. I heard
about his potential arrival from the press. I know nothing,”
Peskov told the Guardian on Sunday.

When RT contacted Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB)
regarding the matter, the agency declined to comment.

With no corroborating video footage, the only actual proof that
Snowden arrived in Moscow on Sunday evening stem from three
primary sources: WikiLeaks, the government of Ecuador and
anonymous sources working within the airport.

WikiLeaks, whose representative Sarah Harrison reportedly
accompanied Snowden on the flight, regularly sent out tweets up
until flight SU213 touched down in the Russian capital around 5pm
local time (13:00 GMT).

The anti-secrecy group said in a statement that the former CIA
technician is on his way to Ecuador "via a safe route for the
purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal
advisors from WikiLeaks."

A source from within WikiLeaks, speaking on condition of
anonymity, confirmed to RT that the rogue NSA leaker was indeed
on the flight, passing on the names of Ecuadorian officials who
were slated to meet Snowden at the airport.

An unnamed Aeroflot official also informed Russia’s ITAR-Tass
news agency that the former CIA technician was indeed on board
Flight SU213 which landed in Moscow.

Smoke and mirrors?

Shortly after flight 213 landed, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister
Ricardo Patino tweeted that “The Government of Ecuador had
received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden.” Cars
baring license plates for the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission were
spotted at Moscow International Airport Sheremetyevo.

Ecuador's ambassador to Russia, Chavez Zavala, was also seen at
the airport. Just moments before stepping into a hotel on the
airport’s premises, he reportedly told journalists: "We're
waiting for [Sarah] Harrison. We're going to talk to them."

Although Snowden had reportedly taken a suite at the V-Express
Capsule Hotel in Terminal E of the airport’s transit area, no
visual confirmation of the former contractor has surfaced despite
the myriad passengers and swarm of journalists staking out quite
possibly the world’s most wanted man.

A source at Aeroflot told Interfax news agency that Snowden had
checked into the hotel, noting that “he cannot leave the
terminal as he has no Russian visa." Harrison, he added, did
have a Russian visa.

Another source spoke to the agency of the unprecedented security
measures which had been taken “to maintain Snowden's security
and to guarantee his safe departure.”

“Everything has been done to allow Snowden to spend the night
peacefully at the airport's capsule hotel and to fly quietly to
Cuba," the source continued.

However, on Monday evening a source at the hotel noted to RT's
Ruptly video
agency that Snowden had in fact never checked in or out of the
facility.

It bears recalling that WikiLeaks, which did everything possible
to draw attention to Snowden’s location between takeoff and
landing, has a vested interest in concealing the whistleblower's
actual movements.

Ecuador has already shown its willingness to take big political
risks by granting Assange diplomatic asylum at its London
embassy, where the WikiLeaks founder has remained holed up for
over a year. With round-the-clock police surveillance and a
diplomatic standoff with the UK government set to last for years,
Quito might have decided to avoid another diplomatic showdown by
facilitating Snowden’s safe passage before he arrives in Ecuador.

Destination unknown

RT’s correspondent, Egor Piskunov on board the Havana-bound
flight on Monday, said Snowden never turned up, although
“something out of the ordinary is definitely happening,
judging by the security and the amount of media.”

RT’s Irina Galushko later observed there were at least four
flights leaving on Monday that could put Snowden on route to
Ecuador.

A source familiar with the situation earlier told Interfax that
Snowden might take the next flight to Latin America via Cuba.

“He’s probably got another ticket also via Cuba, as there are
no direct flights [from Moscow] to Caracas or Quito.”

Like so much other information that has leaked out of Moscow’s
international hub, nothing ever materialized. The same source
later told Interfax that Snowden was probably already outside of
the Russian Federation.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart
in New Delhi, Secretary of State John Kerry said he had no knowledge of Snowden’s final
destination, adding he would be deeply troubled if Moscow or
China had prior notice of Snowden’s travel plans.

More baffling to Washington is how Snowden ever left Hong Kong as
his passport had been revoked one day prior. On the same day, the
US asked Hong Kong to hand over Snowden under the terms of a 1998
extradition treaty with the Chinese territory.

However, The Hong Kong special administrative region [HKSAR]
government said their decision not to block Snowden’s departure
stemmed from the fact that “the documents provided by the US
government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under
Hong Kong law.”

“As the HKSAR government has yet to have sufficient
information to process the request for provisional warrant of
arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from
leaving Hong Kong. The HKSAR government has already informed the
US government of Mr Snowden's departure,” the statement
continued.

On Friday, federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against
Snowden for leaking a trove of documents regarding the NSA’s
clandestine surveillance programs.

Snowden was charged with theft, “unauthorized communication of
national defense information” and “willful communication
of classified communications intelligence information to an
unauthorized person.” The last two charges were brought under
the 1917 Espionage Act, which allow for the issuance of an
international arrest warrant against him.

Russia, which has no extradition treaty with the US, said it
would be under no obligation to hand over a US citizen. Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov has previously said Russia would be
willing to consider an asylum request from Snowden.

However, an unnamed security official told RIA-Novosti news
agency on Monday that no orders for Snowden's arrest have been
dispatched through Interpol to Russian law enforcement agencies.

Speaking from Hanoi on Monday, Patino said he did not know
Snowden’s current whereabouts, or where the whistleblower planned
to travel next.

The Ecuadorian FM, who read a letter in which Snowden likened
himself to Bradley Manning, the US army private who is currently
on trial for leaking classified information to WikiLeaks,
intimated that the former NSA contractor’s asylum request would
be considered on human rights grounds.

Following news that Snowden’s passport had been revoked, State
Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said he "should not be
allowed to proceed in any further international travel, other
than is necessary to return him to the United States."

That Snowden could leave Hong Kong on an invalidated passport
despite the charges leveled against him speaks volumes about the
fallout from the United States sweeping surveillance activities.

And despite the massive troves of information the US government
continues to cull both at home and abroad through PRISM and
related surveillance programs, one critical fact remains elusive:
where in the world is Edward Snowden?